James Hope (1818 - 1892)

Born 29 Nov 1818 in Edinburgh, Scotland

Died 1892 at about age 73 in Watkins Glen, Schuyler, New York, United States

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Biography

"James Hope was born in Scotland in 1818 and originally came to Canada. In 1834 he came to Fair Haven. In 1840 he taught school in West Rutland, and in 1843 set up as a professional artist. For a while he taught painting and drawing at Castleton Seminary but went to Montreal, Canada, for a couple of years. He returned to teach at Castleton Seminary. In 1850 he resided in Rutland, according to the 1850 census records. In the 1850's he moved to Castleton and thence to Watkins Glen, New York, in 1872. Although he began his career as a self-taught portraitist, Hope most enjoyed landscape painting. Many of his landscapes have Rutland area scenes as their subject." (Rutland Hist. Soc.)

Burial

Glenwood Cemetery, Watkins Glen, Schuyler, New York (Find A Grave)

Artist with the Vermont Calvary during the Civil War. "James Hope was born in Scotland and, following the death of his mother, accompanied his father to Canada. At the age of twelve he was orphaned in a cholera outbreak. Soon apprenticed to a wagon maker in Fairhaven, Vermont, he quickly demonstrated that his native intelligence and artistic talent precluded a tradesman’s career. With money saved he attended the Castleton Vermont Seminary for a year and took up portrait painting. He painted in Rutland, Vermont in 1843, but moved to the more lucrative market of Montreal from 1844 to 1846. Upon leaving Montreal, Hope reestablished in Castleton and devoted himself to landscape painting. In 1849 Frederic Church worked for a summer in nearby Clarendon Springs, and it seems likely that he influenced Hope to focus his attentions on New York City. Hope sent a Castleton landscape to the 1849 exhibition of the American Art Union and by 1854 he had work accepted by the National Academy of Design. Thereafter, for more than twenty-five years, he was a frequent contributor to the exhibitions there and to the Brooklyn Art Association. An occasional exhibitor in Boston, he also sent paintings to shows in Philadelphia, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Detroit, Utica, Chicago, and St. Louis.

Hope was among the group of artists who saw active duty in the Civil War, participating in eleven battles. On March 11, 1864, the following appeared in the Newark Daily Advertise. After the war, Hope acquired popularity as a painter of battle scenes. By 1872, however, he built a studio and art gallery in Watkins Glen, New York. There he spent the last twenty years of his life as artist laureate of the water and wind-hewn geologic formations found in the vicinity. Hope was elected an Associate Member of the National Academy of Design in 1871."

Sources

• Find A Grave: Memorial #20606375
• Rutland Historical Society Quarterly (Rutland, Vermont, 1972) Vol. 2, No. 2, Page 3
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/20606375/james-hope

https://www.whitemountainart.com/about-3/artists/james-hope-1818-1892/